We find out more about the training environment that took the British 800m runner to the top of the Olympic podium and find out how much work goes into a gold medal.
Keely Hodgkinson had just walked off the podium when he stopped to speak to the waiting press at the Stade de France. A recurring theme in the immediate aftermath of her victory in the Olympic women’s 800m final was how she planned to reward herself after the race of her life. There was talk of Louis Vuitton bags, maybe a new car, some jewelry to commemorate the occasion.
The most precious prize, however, was the one hanging around his neck. There was definitely a golden glow to the 22-year-old, who had so much expected of him in Paris.
To the casual observer that he rose to meet those expectations was impressive enough, but only those who know him well know how deep he had to dig to make those Olympic ambitions a reality.
With work done and smiles for the cameras, it would be easy on the surface to imagine Hodgkinson’s path to success as a straight, steadily rising line. As is often the case in elite sports, however, the reality is often dramatically different. Shiny prizes don’t usually come without the need to visit some dark places.
In fact, his training partners and his coaches at Manchester’s M11 Track Club, run by Trevor Painter and his wife Jenny Meadows, a one-time elite 800m athlete, are filled with admiration for the holes. The British record holder ruled himself out earlier this year to return to the top.
AW: sat down with Meadows, plus M11 members Erin Wallace, Ava Lloyd and Charlie Hobson, to get a sense of what life is like as part of a band that’s building a reputation for success. That feeling was reinforced by Olympic bronze medals for Great Britain, won by Georgia Bell in the women’s 1500m and Lewis Davy in the men’s 4x400m relay.
Kelly Hodgkinson with training partners (Getty)
It’s Hodgkinson who has risen the highest of the bunch so far, but there have been times when the bubble has well and truly burst along the way. Although there is now a long list of highlights for 2024, which includes his victory at the Prefontaine Classic, battling illness to win the European title, breaking the British record at the London Diamond League meeting and then winning the sport’s biggest prize in France, a hill in Potchefstroom, South Africa, is where Meadows’ mind tends to wander when it comes to this year’s highlights.
It was the site of Hodgkinson’s first session of the year back in January. He was returning to running in warm-weather training camp after tearing a knee ligament and tendon that extended into his hamstring and sidelined him. “He was fit, but not fit to run,” Meadows says. Hodgkinson was not unwell either, but no one expected what would happen.
“Now we can laugh and joke about it, but there was a moment in January when we were worried. “Will he be in Paris?” “There’s a specific hill session that comes to mind. I’ve known Keel for five years now and I never thought he could be this bad. Erin was destroying him on the hill.’
Wallace, a European under-18 and under-23 medalist who this summer won the Olympic 800m qualifying standard, agrees. “It was a bit crazy,” he says. “I’ve never seen Kiley fight so hard. I didn’t know he could be so far behind me. I was laughing with him about it because it was so bad. I couldn’t believe it happened.”
Erin Wallace (Paul Forrest)
“He was unwell and injured,” Meadows adds. “The session is to run up the hill for 200m, then run back for 100m and do it again, so with each repetition you’re going further up the hill. I had to time the people at the top of the hill and then Keeley. (It got to the stage where) I was having a hard time seeing Keel down there and I had to stop his timing and focus on the rest of the band.
“But there’s something very powerful when you see that someone isn’t naturally gifted and that it’s (always) easy. There is something inspiring about watching him fight.
Some choose to go through the battle and some don’t.”
Did the fact that the big name was struggling, that the natural order of things was being disrupted, send unsettling ripples through the group? Not as much as you might think. Generally, actually.
“It reinforces the idea that we’re all one big training group,” said 19-year-old Lloyd, who at the time of writing was preparing to compete for Great Britain at the Under-20 World Championships. Lima
Ava Lloyd (England Athletics/Pat Skaasi)
“It is not always the same person at the front. Everyone uses each other. I’m not going to lie, if someone is having a bad day, you don’t really wait behind them, you do your best to get past them.
“Everybody gets little spurts now and then, but then everybody can have an off day, and the off days are tough in a group. It can be quite traumatic at times. But I think the fact that everyone has good days and bad days means you just push each other no matter what.
“Clee still finished the session at the end of the day, even though he was in that condition. There was another session at the same camp, and I think in the same week, and he struggled in that one as well. I was also struggling and we were both at the back together. He used to say: “We’ll just do it, Ava.” If he hadn’t told me that, I wouldn’t have gone through that session. It was really scary and I was fighting for my life.”
Not everyone in the group saw Hodgkinson at his lowest ebb, however. “I’m disappointed I missed that session.” laughs Hobson. The 21-year-old was in Paris, where he was tasked with a camp assignment in the days leading up to the Olympics, stepping up Hodgkinson’s training. He is used to being hunted.
“I’ve never witnessed a session where he struggles because the last rep always seems to be the one he enjoys the most,” she says. “He’s just getting there. Even if he is in a dark place, it seems he can repeat as much as he wants.
“Before the Olympics we were doing three 300m sessions and we were going so fast. On the last, in the closing 50 meters, Keely just steamrolled it. We know he will come eventually. It’s just a script.”
Kelly Hodgkinson (Getty)
After finishing second at the Tokyo Olympics, the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, plus the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, the script is finally written for Hodgkinson to come out on top.
His star was already on the rise, but the win in Paris boosted his public profile a notch or two. If success is going to his head, he certainly doesn’t show it in front of his training partners. When he arrived recently for his first post-Olympic session with the band, there was a hint of confusion and almost a fear of making any noise.
“He looked a bit sheepish,” smiles Wallace. “Actually, I didn’t know what to say to him. “Well done” feels like it doesn’t really cut it.
“I have never personally known anyone who won the Olympics. When I was younger, people like Jess Ennis were famous to me, but now one of my friends has just won the Olympics. But I consider her my girlfriend first and the Olympic champion second.
“Actually, I think the first thing I told her was how much I liked her nails.”
Keely Hodgkinson and Trevor Painter (Getty)
“He wants to just be Keely at practice,” Meadows says. “Training is his safe place. When he came to that first session, I said to Trevor. and he said: “No, he’s going to hate it.” She just wants Erin to tell her she has nice nails.
“Until at the end of the session we found out that he had his medal with him and he apologized, e.g. “I didn’t mean to assume you all wanted to see it.”
“Kelly is famous to some people, but we don’t see that and she doesn’t. He never wants us to think that way about him.
“We’re his friends, we’re his coaching staff, and we’ve got to keep him grounded. Ava needs to beat herself up that hill again in South Africa in January.”
READ MORE. Keely enjoys a golden moment
Hobson’s blunt comment further cuts through any pretensions.
“Sometimes we forget he’s famous,” she says. “If we go to the track and there’s a bunch of kids around and they ask for a picture, it’s like, “Oh yeah, I forgot you were famous.”
However, Hodgkinson’s influence on those around him is still profound. Ask his training partners about the biggest lesson they’ve learned from watching and working with him, and three very important answers will come up.
“His mental faculties,” says Hobson. “He can put himself in dark places, but he’s still confident that he’ll come out strong in the end. I feel like he’s really thrived under pressure this year. In the sessions before the Olympic Games, he kept saying, “oppression is a privilege.” It’s definitely put a strain on him, but I think it’s definitely helped him as well.
“For me there was a bit more pressure in the holding camp because obviously his dream was to get a gold medal and I didn’t want to mess up the times or get in the way or anything like that. I didn’t though, so that was cool.
“I was proud that he won. I felt like I won. Everyone bought me a drink and said, “Well done, dear.”
Jenny Meadows with Trevor Pinter and Keeley Hodgkinson (Getty)
Wallace adds: “I was putting pressure on Kiley before the Olympics. I can’t imagine how that must have felt for him, but he seemed to just thrive on it, and it was impressive. It is good to see that it is possible to do such things.”
The last word goes to Lloyd. “The main thing for me is that not everything has to be perfect,” he says. “You don’t have to come to every session and train like you’re the best in the world, because sometimes you’re not. What you put together throughout the year towards that end goal is what really matters, not showing up every day and setting world records. That’s really important to remember.”
The M11 group has a WhatsApp chat that lights up anytime one of them is doing well. Given the recipe for success they’ve discovered in the North West of England, it looks like the messages will be flowing for the foreseeable future.
» This article first appeared in the September issue of AW magazine. Subscribe to AW Magazine herecheck out our new podcast! here or subscribe to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here
The post Keely Hodgkinson. creating a champion appeared first AW:.
